戏剧欣赏论文
学院：外国语学院
年级：2010级
专业：英语
班级：2班
姓名：张燕
学号：100801223
Character Analysis of Henry Higgins
Abstract
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion‘s main character, Henry Higgins is a person of his own class. The two traits that really make him who he is are his rudeness towards every social class, and his hypocritical beliefs of everyone. These traits have made him a confirmed bachelor, as well as making his social habits very unique. Keywords: contradiction; misogynist; misanthrope
Social background
Shaw's Pygmalion was written in support of its author's controversial thesis that class divisions in British society could be overcome by encouraging the use of Received Pronunciation (supported by reformed spelling in a phonetic alphabet)in place of regional and class accents. (The story concerns a professor of phonology who accepts a bet that he can teach a Cockney flower-seller to speak like a duchess.) This makes it a curious basis for a Broadway musical, given that most Americans have little interest in the linguistic aspects of the British class system and little ability to distinguish British accents. It is therefore hardly surprising that Audrey Hepburn does not sound much like a native of Lisson Grove (a predominantly working-class district of North-WestLondon with an accent slightly different to the better-known East End Cockney). She was clearly under instructions to exaggerate her accent to such an extent that even an American audience could not fail to appreciate the contrast with the accents of the posh characters.
Character Analysis
Higgins is what you might call a bundle of contradictions. He's a woman-hating mama's boy; an incredibly talented, educated whiny little baby of a man; a personable misanthrope; a loveable jerk. Shaw says it best in his initial description of Higgins: His manner varies from genial bullying when he is in good humor to stormy petulance when anything goes wrong; but he is so entirely frank and void of malice that he remains likeable even in his least reasonable moments.
The first time we meet Higgins he's acting as a combination street
magician/peacemaker. He calms down Eliza, then proceeds to show off his skills by telling people where they're from just by listening to the sound of their voice. Oh, and he can mimic them too. Right from the beginning we can tell he's a bit of a braggart and a bit of a preacher – he can't help but tell Pickering all about his trade, his life philosophy, and his ability to turn flower girls into duchesses – but as far as first impressions go, he makes a pretty good one. He comes off as one heck of a cool cat. By the end of the second act, things have become more complicated. Turns out he treats women like trash sometimes, and his motives for taking on Pickering's bet seem less than sincere. He begins bossing Eliza around rather quickly, telling her what to do, manipulating her with big promises and chocolate – he is quite suave, you have to give him that. He even pays Eliza's father so that he can take her into custody. All of this happens before he calls her an idiot and a slut and almost assaults her…twice.
Higgins's actions spring from some unexplained distaste for young women, who he tells his mother are "all idiots". Oh, and he has this weird thing for women that remind him of his mom. At various points in the play he compares women to blocks of wood, calls Eliza garbage, asks to have her wrapped in brown paper like a package, and refers to her as "his masterpiece." Both his mother and his maid, Mrs. Pearce, point out how unfair this all is, how, in Mrs. Pearce's words, "you can't take a girl up like that as if you were picking up a pebble on the beach".
Though he can be a pigheaded jerk, Higgins is definitely not a fool. He knows he's a jerk, and he's even come up with a justification for his behavior. After Eliza accuses him of treating her unfairly, he tells her,
The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another.
This is the best example of Higgins's high-minded, philosophical side. Sounds pretty convincing, right? Thing is, sometimes it's hard to tell if he's really being sincere or if he's just trying to get out of a tough spot. He does, however, have a penchant for talking about the soul of man, about the importance of language, and social equality. Given Shaw's socialist leanings (he was a member of the British
socialist group, The Fabian Society, and wrote on and debated various social issues – learn more here) it's hard to dismiss everything Higgins says as meaningless claptrap. Higgins's fervor can get him into trouble, however. He spends so much time "inventing new Elizas" with Pickering that he seems to sometimes forget that she's a human being. He forgets to congratulate her for her bet-winning performance. He gets so angry he nearly hurts her, and he ultimately puts her into a very tricky position. Talking all this into consideration, it's hard to pass judgment on Higgins. He's always likeable, sure. He's the play's voice of reason, the preacher and poet, but he's also a slovenly, absent-minded troublemaker. He is the engine that drives the play. He's not Mr. Perfect, but he has heart. He's the closest thing we get to Shaw, but don't make the mistake of substituting one for the other. Higgins is like Shaw in some ways, but he is not Shaw. He is Pygmalion, the character, and it's safe to say that he's also Pygmalion, the play. Without him, it simply couldn't be.
Personal opinion
I have read in a great many places that Henry Higgins is a misogynist. It has also been said that the film is a misogynist's fairy tale. Anyone saying this has clearly not watched this film too closely.
First, Higgins is not a misogynist. A misogynist hates women. What Higgins is, in reality, is a misanthrope. A misanthrope basically dislikes and distrusts everyone! Watch the film and you'll notice that Higgins treats everyone with the same
disregard-Col. Pickering, Eliza's father, his own mother-everyone receives his rather cynical disdain. Some of the minor characters come off being treated worse than the principals do. It's simply more noticeable with Eliza because it's more frequent, it's newer with Eliza because the other principal characters have known Higgins longer
and thus take it in stride. The myth that Higgins is a misogynist is perpetuated by the song, "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like a Man?".
Second, it can hardly be called a misogynist's fairy tale. If that were the case, I doubt Alfred Doolittle would have cause to sing, "Get Me To the Church On Time", as he'd hardly be getting married. His life is just as "ruined" as Eliza's by his encounters with Higgins, just as altered as her life has been.
戏剧欣赏论文
学院：外国语学院
年级：2010级
专业：英语
班级：2班
姓名：张燕
学号：100801223
Character Analysis of Henry Higgins
Abstract
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion‘s main character, Henry Higgins is a person of his own class. The two traits that really make him who he is are his rudeness towards every social class, and his hypocritical beliefs of everyone. These traits have made him a confirmed bachelor, as well as making his social habits very unique. Keywords: contradiction; misogynist; misanthrope
Social background
Shaw's Pygmalion was written in support of its author's controversial thesis that class divisions in British society could be overcome by encouraging the use of Received Pronunciation (supported by reformed spelling in a phonetic alphabet)in place of regional and class accents. (The story concerns a professor of phonology who accepts a bet that he can teach a Cockney flower-seller to speak like a duchess.) This makes it a curious basis for a Broadway musical, given that most Americans have little interest in the linguistic aspects of the British class system and little ability to distinguish British accents. It is therefore hardly surprising that Audrey Hepburn does not sound much like a native of Lisson Grove (a predominantly working-class district of North-WestLondon with an accent slightly different to the better-known East End Cockney). She was clearly under instructions to exaggerate her accent to such an extent that even an American audience could not fail to appreciate the contrast with the accents of the posh characters.
Character Analysis
Higgins is what you might call a bundle of contradictions. He's a woman-hating mama's boy; an incredibly talented, educated whiny little baby of a man; a personable misanthrope; a loveable jerk. Shaw says it best in his initial description of Higgins: His manner varies from genial bullying when he is in good humor to stormy petulance when anything goes wrong; but he is so entirely frank and void of malice that he remains likeable even in his least reasonable moments.
The first time we meet Higgins he's acting as a combination street
magician/peacemaker. He calms down Eliza, then proceeds to show off his skills by telling people where they're from just by listening to the sound of their voice. Oh, and he can mimic them too. Right from the beginning we can tell he's a bit of a braggart and a bit of a preacher – he can't help but tell Pickering all about his trade, his life philosophy, and his ability to turn flower girls into duchesses – but as far as first impressions go, he makes a pretty good one. He comes off as one heck of a cool cat. By the end of the second act, things have become more complicated. Turns out he treats women like trash sometimes, and his motives for taking on Pickering's bet seem less than sincere. He begins bossing Eliza around rather quickly, telling her what to do, manipulating her with big promises and chocolate – he is quite suave, you have to give him that. He even pays Eliza's father so that he can take her into custody. All of this happens before he calls her an idiot and a slut and almost assaults her…twice.
Higgins's actions spring from some unexplained distaste for young women, who he tells his mother are "all idiots". Oh, and he has this weird thing for women that remind him of his mom. At various points in the play he compares women to blocks of wood, calls Eliza garbage, asks to have her wrapped in brown paper like a package, and refers to her as "his masterpiece." Both his mother and his maid, Mrs. Pearce, point out how unfair this all is, how, in Mrs. Pearce's words, "you can't take a girl up like that as if you were picking up a pebble on the beach".
Though he can be a pigheaded jerk, Higgins is definitely not a fool. He knows he's a jerk, and he's even come up with a justification for his behavior. After Eliza accuses him of treating her unfairly, he tells her,
The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another.
This is the best example of Higgins's high-minded, philosophical side. Sounds pretty convincing, right? Thing is, sometimes it's hard to tell if he's really being sincere or if he's just trying to get out of a tough spot. He does, however, have a penchant for talking about the soul of man, about the importance of language, and social equality. Given Shaw's socialist leanings (he was a member of the British
socialist group, The Fabian Society, and wrote on and debated various social issues – learn more here) it's hard to dismiss everything Higgins says as meaningless claptrap. Higgins's fervor can get him into trouble, however. He spends so much time "inventing new Elizas" with Pickering that he seems to sometimes forget that she's a human being. He forgets to congratulate her for her bet-winning performance. He gets so angry he nearly hurts her, and he ultimately puts her into a very tricky position. Talking all this into consideration, it's hard to pass judgment on Higgins. He's always likeable, sure. He's the play's voice of reason, the preacher and poet, but he's also a slovenly, absent-minded troublemaker. He is the engine that drives the play. He's not Mr. Perfect, but he has heart. He's the closest thing we get to Shaw, but don't make the mistake of substituting one for the other. Higgins is like Shaw in some ways, but he is not Shaw. He is Pygmalion, the character, and it's safe to say that he's also Pygmalion, the play. Without him, it simply couldn't be.
Personal opinion
I have read in a great many places that Henry Higgins is a misogynist. It has also been said that the film is a misogynist's fairy tale. Anyone saying this has clearly not watched this film too closely.
First, Higgins is not a misogynist. A misogynist hates women. What Higgins is, in reality, is a misanthrope. A misanthrope basically dislikes and distrusts everyone! Watch the film and you'll notice that Higgins treats everyone with the same
disregard-Col. Pickering, Eliza's father, his own mother-everyone receives his rather cynical disdain. Some of the minor characters come off being treated worse than the principals do. It's simply more noticeable with Eliza because it's more frequent, it's newer with Eliza because the other principal characters have known Higgins longer
and thus take it in stride. The myth that Higgins is a misogynist is perpetuated by the song, "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like a Man?".
Second, it can hardly be called a misogynist's fairy tale. If that were the case, I doubt Alfred Doolittle would have cause to sing, "Get Me To the Church On Time", as he'd hardly be getting married. His life is just as "ruined" as Eliza's by his encounters with Higgins, just as altered as her life has been.